Reluctantly Charmed and fairies Thanks so much for picking up ReluctantlyCharmed. It’s my first novel, and it’s been a labour of love, tears and many cups of tea. I wrote it in my parents’ front room in Dublin, their good room. I was given permission to work out of it so long as I promised not to eat or drink in there (I’m sure Hemingway never had to contend with a mother concerned about crumbs). I knew I had a story, and I knew I had to get it down. It all came to me in a roundabout way from my granny. William Butler Yeats, Walt Disney and my granny believed in fairies. Granny O’Neill instilled the fear of God in her grandchildren with stories of fairies. Irish fairies are not cute little angelic creatures, but mischievous fellows with an evil glint in their eye who would put a hump on your back for singing a song out of tune. Granny came from a small farm and, as many of her generation did, grew up with the certainty of their existence and of their wrath if not appeased. As I got older and Santa and the Easter Bunny disappeared, the fairies remained. Fairies belonged to the grown up world. When she passed away six years ago, I was sad to lose that link to the other world, the maybe world and all the dreaming and possibilities of it. I started to investigate the folklore around fairies. I found hundreds of first-hand reports of encounters with the little people. There were recent articles and stories of road works and construction sites brought to a halt because of the threat of disturbing a fairy tree or fort. I found it hard to believe that modern Ireland was holding fast to these superstitious beliefs. There was something wonderfully romantic about it. And I wondered . . . what if? As crazy as it sounds, what if there was something in it? And so I found Kate McDaid, a modern, funny, cynical, regular city dweller, probably the antithesis of my granny in her twenties. Kate already had enough on her plate with romantic troubles, a hectic work schedule and some off the wall parents. I chose her as the key-holder to the fairy world and watched the story unfold. Reluctantly Charmed is a story of magical realism. It’s a story for anyone who has ever wondered what if. I really hope you enjoyed it. Ellie O’Neill 2014